Social media kick!

Whoa! Two blog posts in as many days?? This is unheard of. I just thought I'd share quickly, that I was told by half of the Freddie W YouTube channel, that I should use social media more. And I'm such a tool, that I took his advice.

Haha, no I'm not a tool, I'm fully capable of making my own decisions, but he is right. I should branch out and diversify.
So I started tweeting. We'll see how that goes. I do use Instagram, but it's mostly cigar pics that I've tweeked on my iPad. But I put up some cool things now and then. If you're on Instagram, look me up. My user name there and on twitter is halfflash. So come find me and let's socially do media things together.

The importance of "NO"

This week was so amazing. I think that sounds cliche, but that's really the only way to explain it.
My company, Stargate Studios, was brought on board for the grand opening of the new YouTube studios in La Playa California. We were contracted to use our Previzion System to put on a live show for Lindsey Sterling, the hip hop violinist on YouTube. She's incredibly popular, getting millions of hits on her videos, and was surprisingly down to earth and sweet. As were all of the YoutTubers that I met this week.

So the team at Stargate began building an incredible 3D world based on a final fantasy like request from Lindsey. It took three weeks to build the world, and test it in my previzion system. I learned so much about the system in the process of testing the world. It was a big world, with 8 high definition videos playing, real time green screen keying, and 3D rendering all at once. Too many videos, and the system crashes, wrong settings on my machine and it crashes, so many things could (and did) go wrong.
But we ironed out the bugs and got to where we were comfortable.

Then we moved into the stage at the YouTube studio, called YouTube space LA, and started putting up our tracking markers and green screen. This is where the fun starts, orienting the virtual world, lighting, final testing of videos, and walking through the scene. It really is like magic when you see it all come together and work. It still amazes me.

When Lindsey came in, she was obviously blown away by the world we created, and were able to have her interact with. We practiced a few times, got her marks, and recorded a few takes for use later on. She's quite a talented performer. She hit her marks all the time, played very consistently, and really just trooped her way through the whole thing. I was impressed, I thought she'd be a diva.

The following night, we went live. The top YouTubers were invited to the event, and were outside waiting and watching. We were being broadcast to a jumbo screen outside, and I think being streamed live online. So we couldn't have any mistakes. I wasn't given much info on where it was going to be streamed. And I still haven't seen it. Everything on our end went according to plan, and we wound up being the stars of the show. Every one was excited to see what we could do and play in our world. From 8-11:30 we had a constant flow of intrigued content creators asking us questions and trying to find out how they can get a hold of us for their channels. It was very exhilarating.


Meeting some of my YouTube heros was so cool. Among the impressed crowd was Freddie W and Brandon Laatsch, Joe Penna (Mystery Guitar Man), Corridor Digital, Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider, and Tony Hawk.
Funny thing about Tony Hawk, that's who he is. It's not just Tony, or Mr. Hawk. It's only ever Tony Hawk. But he's a really nice guy for a super star.

The point of this post is to talk about the event a little, and also it talk about NO.

During the set up process, working with the talent, directors, and our own VFX supervisors, I never heard the word "no." There were definitely requests for things that could be be delivered. But no one ever said no. They gave political answers, like "Hmmm. Let me check on that and get back to you." Or,"The way that we have our system configured right now, that's not possible. But if we break it down, we can reconfigure in two hours. Is that something you want to do?"

Very crafty, and it reminds me of a lesson that I learned in high school, when I was the coach of the school's improv team. never say no, because nothing kills creativity faster. No eliminates options. Just like Sam Jackson's speech in "The Negotiator." He's talking the new negotiator through how to talk down a hostage taker. "Can I see a priest?" Answer: "I'll see what I can do."

Saying no also makes you sound like a dick. Like you don't care enough to even explore their creativity as an option.

I need to work on this. My first thought is to say no, when I know that something can't be done. Or at least can't be done easily. I need to be more open to trying. I don't know why my first reaction is to say no, but it has been lately. I really need to take my own advice, and be more political. 

Picking up speed

Well, at a whopping 20 (average) views a day for the last week, I feel pretty accomplished.
Some days, I feel like I have nothing to write, but I still put my thoughts down, then I erase them and either start over and think of something new, or don't write anything. I don't want this blog to become a bitch fest. Believe me, I have plenty of things to bitch about. Like the woman behind me in traffic last week. She was tail gating me, with both iPhone ear buds in. The problem that I saw, was not that she was talking on the phone while using a hands free device, BUT STILL HOLDING THE PHONE IN HER HAND! It's not hands free if you use a hand to operate it! Same with speaker phone, you don't use speaker phone and hold it! It defeats the purpose of hands free. LA drivers...
That's not what I want this blog to be about, though it's tempting some times. I can rant! The upcoming internet radio show that I'll be hosting will probably have a lot more ranting than I want, but that's just how I host shows. When I get to talking, I can go and go and go. A two hour radio show? Sweet. Maybe I'll get more than 20 listeners.
The show had to be put on hold, because we needed more time to get our ducks in a row. January should be our first show. The school that is sponsoring the show had an event that needed attention. And I must say that the Los Angeles Film School's Annual Salute was a blast! I met some fun people, got some swag, and heard some very inspiring presentations.
Which is what I want to talk about today, motivation and inspiration. I've been pretty lazy lately. Not going to the gym, crashing on my couch instead of writing, sleeping in to the last minute instead of reading the news in the morning. But today I think I reached that breaking point, where I just got so fed up with myself, I got off my ass and did something. I started cleaning my apartment, started writing the script that I've had in my head, and I went for a jog. I haven't been to the gym for months, and when I went today, it was closed. So I opted for a short run and an apartment work out instead.

They say that you should do at least one hour of work for your career every day. I say this in response: There are people out there spending two hours on theirs, so how are you going to keep up?

As a wrestler in high school, I learned that every minute you spend not training, there's a guy out there who IS training. And when you meet him, you'll know it.

So what ever it takes, find your motivation. It might take a while, but don't get down on yourself because of that. It just takes time. But don't waste that time. 

Getting a job is a job.

I'm involved with several different online film making communities, and something that I've been seeing from newer members lately, has been bugging me. I don't want to address it there and make people feel foolish, so hopefully they will find their way here and see this.

Making posts online like "I need a job" and "who's hiring" isn't helping any one. The other one I see is, "I'm a _____, and I'm looking for work." Damn! Come one guys, you are supposed to be professionals. 

I'll address these one at a time. 

Just saying that you need a job is not helpful to any one. If I were in a position where I needed to hire someone, the first people that I go to are the people that I know and trust. People that I have worked with and know first hand that I can rely on. Secondly, I will talk to people who bear the seal of approval of those people that I trust. If I'm desperate, and the recommendation carries enough weight, I might bring that person on with out a second thought, or maybe do a brief and informal interview.
Lastly, hiring people I don't know. Taking resumes, interviews, and calling people that I have met at events. 

If you just say that you need a job, you actually say to me "I don't have enough experience or a large enough network to get a job on my own. I don't even have a reel or resume to share." 

Being a novice is not a fault, but it is something that you need to fight against. 

I heard it said this weekend, "You can't do it until you've done it." Meaning that no one wants to hire you until you have the experience of that job. Its counter intuitive, but still kind of makes sense. Would YOU hire a plumber who had never piped a house? So how does he get the experience of piping a full house? 

One answer given yesterday was lie. Make sure that you don't let them down, or get caught in the lie. So make sure you bring your A game. 

The Second line that pisses me off, "I'm an editor/make up artist/what ever."

You need to post some kind of reel or portfolio, especially when it's a creative position like an editor. You can not hire an artistic position based on talk. I've done that, and it was a mistake. Though...even having a reel and portfolio can't tell you what a person is truly capable of. You can be fooled.  

One last thought, people talk about how much time they spend looking for jobs. Getting frustrated is natural, just remember one thing: you only need to talk to one person. The person who has the job for you. You may need to talk to 1000 people before you get to that person. I was extremely lucky, and found him very quickly. 

Just because you talked to that 1000 people doesn't earn you any extra kudos, but hopefully you don't think of those 1000 people in such black and white terms. That's 1000 potential employers down the road once you have a little more experience. 

If you practice hitting a baseball for 1000 hours, but practice wrong, you haven't improved. So bragging about it makes you sound stupid!

Quantity of time spent on an endeavor is not proportional to it's return. 

That's all I have for now. Stay sharp, and stay tuned.